How do you imagine First Parish Church Unitarian Universalist in the future?  What would you want to see, hear, experience?  This Sunday the Transition Team seeks your participation in visioning the future of the congregation.   We will hold a brief worship service and then break into small, facilitated groups to consider three visioning questions. … Continue reading Transition Sunday II: Visioning:  Who Do We Want to Become?

A Multi-generational Easter Service Even when the world discourages us, even when winter winds seem endless, love returns and gives us new life.  Our service will include a multi-part story of the Legend of the Pysanky, a short Easter reflection by Rev. Susan, favorite Easter music, and even birds.  If you picked up a pysanky image last week, please bring it … Continue reading “Love Comes Again”

In the Christian world, today is Palm Sunday, in some ways the most revealing holy day of the tradition.  It provides the context for us to consider how Jesus, an itinerant Jewish teacher and “healer,” was most of all a prophetic activist who opposed the oppression of his people by a powerful empire.  IN-PERSON WORSHIP  … Continue reading “Especially This Year”

The song, Anthem, by Leonard Cohen, provides the text for today’s sermon.  “There is a crack in everything. . .”.  How can our struggles, disappointments, even failures and wounds, make us stronger?  Is it possible to awaken to new selves within us?   From Japanese pottery to human healing, the universe offers us clues. Today’s service … Continue reading How the Light Gets In

The words of today’s sermon title are straight out of First Parish Church’s history, and they are fitting for our annual stewardship campaign Generosity kickoff with the theme of “Body and Soul.” .   What kind of dreams and vision can take FPC into the future as a vital congregation?  Can the past inform us even … Continue reading “For the Soul’s Enlargement and Elevation”

This month, in which our theme is “Renewing Faith,” is a good time to think about our faith as Unitarian Universalists.  We often speak of ours as a “free religion,” but being confident about what that means is a different matter.  Does it really mean that “we are free to believe whatever we want to,” … Continue reading “Free for What?”

It’s a moment of grace that the FPC building project and the decline in Covid numbers have coincided to allow us to gather in person at our meetinghouse.  We will reflect on what home and gathering mean, the light two years of pandemic has thrown on these, and what we inherit from the ages to … Continue reading “Welcome Home: A Service of Regathering”